{"id":323048,"date":"2025-10-22T05:35:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T05:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/323048\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T05:35:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T05:35:13","slug":"astronauts-can-get-motion-sick-while-splashing-back-down-to-earth-virtual-reality-headsets-could-help-them-stay-sharp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/323048\/","title":{"rendered":"Astronauts can get motion sick while splashing back down to Earth \u2013 virtual reality headsets could help them stay sharp"},"content":{"rendered":"

When learning about the effects of spaceflight on human health<\/a>, you typically will hear about the dangers of radiation, bone density loss and changes in eyesight. While these long-term risks are important, a less frequently discussed concern is motion sickness.<\/p>\n

As a child, one of us (Taylor) was highly prone to motion sickness<\/a> \u2013 whether in the backseat of a car, sitting on a train or riding a bus. At the time, she considered it a cruel twist of fate, but as an adult \u2013 and a scientist to boot<\/a> \u2013 Taylor can tell you with confidence that it was entirely her fault.<\/p>\n

You see, like most children during long car rides, Taylor would get bored. So, to combat this boredom, she would either read a book or play on her Gameboy. She would stare down at whatever form of entertainment was in her lap that day until the familiar creeping sensation of nausea developed.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, looking out the side window would help, but more often than not, Taylor\u2019s dad would have to pull over at the next gas station for a short break, or else they\u2019d all suffer the consequences.<\/p>\n

Now, she understands what was happening on a more fundamental level. As children, you are taught about the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. However, there is a hidden sixth sense that helps your body understand how you are moving \u2013 the vestibular system<\/a>. The brain takes information from all these senses and compares it to what it might expect when moving, based on past experiences.<\/p>\n

Optimally, any disagreement between your vestibular senses and your brain\u2019s expectations would be small. But when there are large, sustained conflicts, you get sick<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While reading in the car, Taylor was staring at nonmoving words on a page while her vestibular system told her brain she was traveling down a road. This discrepancy confused her brain since usually, when Taylor felt movement, she should see the world shifting around her in the same way \u2013 hence her motion sickness. Had she been looking out the window and watching the world pass by, she would have been fine. Even better, had she been in the front seat, she would have been able to see the road ahead and predict how she would move in the future.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Looking out the front window while driving can help mitigate motion sickness by aligning your vestigial senses with how your brain expects to be moving.
\n EyeEm Mobile GmbH\/iStock via Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

The sensory conflict between what you experience and what your brain expects doesn\u2019t cause only carsickness. It is also the leading suspect behind cybersickness<\/a> from using virtual reality headsets, seasickness<\/a> on ships and spaceflight-driven motion sickness<\/a>. Our team of aerospace engineers<\/a> is particularly interested in the latter.<\/p>\n

Motion sickness during spaceflight<\/p>\n

To date, all astronauts have grown up on Earth. So, their brains expect any motion cues to include the presence of Earth\u2019s gravity. But when they get to orbit in space, that is no longer the case. <\/p>\n

When in orbit around Earth in microgravity, the vestibular system does not have any gravitational input. The conflict between the brain\u2019s expectation of Earth\u2019s gravity and the reality of no gravity causes space motion sickness<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n

The International Space Station is equipped with medical equipment to keep its residents well and in case any suffer illness during their stay. Space motion sickness is a common malady to experience in orbit.
\n Johnson Space Center<\/a><\/p>\n

Thankfully, the brain\u2019s expectations can change over time, after enough exposure to a new environment. Often referred to as \u201cgetting your sea legs\u201d in the nautical community, astronauts also eventually overcome space motion sickness while in space. However, overcoming it introduces another problem when they return. <\/p>\n

If an astronaut\u2019s brain expects microgravity, what happens when they come back to Earth? As you might expect, the process starts again, and astronauts are now prone to terrestrial readaptation motion sickness. To make matters worse, since the retirement of the space shuttle, crew vehicles frequently land in the water, which means astronauts may deal with choppy waves<\/a> until their capsule is recovered. Seasickness can potentially exacerbate terrestrial readaptation motion sickness.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Crew capsules splash down into the ocean, which can exacerbate motion sickness.
\n Anthony W. Gray\/Kennedy Space Center<\/a><\/p>\n

These conditions are not rare. Over half of all astronauts experience some symptoms of space motion sickness when they first get to space, and terrestrial readaptation motion sickness occurs at a similar incidence rate<\/a> when they come back down. <\/p>\n

Dangers to astronauts<\/p>\n

If you have ever experienced motion sickness, you know how hard it is to do anything other than close your eyes and take deep breaths to expel the creeping urge to vomit. As a passenger in a car, that may be OK, since you aren\u2019t expected to jump into action at a moment\u2019s notice. But while isolated on the water in a return capsule, astronauts need to remain focused and clearheaded. In case of an emergency, they\u2019ll need to respond rapidly. <\/p>\n

If the astronauts need to get out of the capsule prior to pickup up by the recovery team, any motion sickness they have could delay their response time and impede evacuation attempts. <\/p>\n

Potential solutions<\/p>\n

Presently, most astronauts rely on medication<\/a> that interrupts the brain\u2019s ability to use hormones to trigger motion sickness<\/a>. However, as with many commercial products, these drugs can cause side effects such as drowsiness and can lose efficacy over time.<\/p>\n

Our research team completed two experiments<\/a> to investigate how we might be able to manipulate visual information to mitigate motion sickness in astronauts, without relying on pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n

Our participants were exposed to motions meant to simulate transitions between gravity environments<\/a> and then ocean wavelike motion<\/a>. During the hour of wavelike motion, we investigated whether a \u201cvirtual window\u201d could reduce the incidence of motion sickness. <\/p>\n

When in a capsule on the ocean, astronauts are strapped into their seats and likely cannot see out of the small windows built into the capsule. In place of windows, we used virtual reality headsets to create a full-view virtual window.<\/p>\n

In our control group, the subjects received no visual cues of motion \u2013 akin to Taylor\u2019s poorly advised backseat reading. Meanwhile, one countermeasure group got to see a visual scene that moved naturally with their motion, like looking out the side window of the car at the surrounding world. The other countermeasure group saw a scene that moved appropriately and was provided an overlay showing future motion, like looking out the front window and seeing the road ahead.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The device moving in a wavelike motion.<\/p>\n

As expected, the group with no cues of motion got the sickest. Two-thirds of the subjects needed to stop prior to finishing an hour of wavelike motion, due to excessive nausea. Only about one-fifth of the group that was given the side window view needed to stop early. Only one-tenth of the front window group that received present and future visual cues dropped out.<\/p>\n

These results<\/a> mean that by tracking the capsule motion and projecting it on a headset for the astronauts inside, our team may be able to reduce debilitating motion sickness by roughly half. If we could figure out how to predict how the capsule would move, we could give them that front window experience and improve the landing even more. In case of emergency, they could always take off the headsets.<\/p>\n

This work shows promise for motion sickness interventions that do not rely on pharmaceuticals, which are currently used to combat these effects. Our solutions don\u2019t have the same concerns around shelf life, stability or side effects. In addition to the benefits for astronauts, such approaches could help those prone to motion sickness here on Earth, particularly in scenarios where looking out the front window at the road isn\u2019t feasible, such as on planes, trains, buses or high-speed transportation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When learning about the effects of spaceflight on human health, you typically will hear about the dangers of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":323049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[158,67,132,68,729,730],"class_list":{"0":"post-323048","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-virtual-reality","8":"tag-technology","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-virtual-reality","13":"tag-vr"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115416199019281716","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}